With Heggie’s Dead Man Walking, inside of me are two wolves.

The First wolf: wow, what a chilling and heavy and nuanced piece about the extremities of redemption and empathy and spirituality regarding capital punishment that when done right presents it neutrally and showing Sister Helen Prejean as a woman of deep humanity in a difficult position and plus with the Met Opera’s production we get to see Queen Joyce Di Donato shine again.

The Other Wolf:

What the fuck just woke up and saw Roe v. Wade has officially been overturned. Ironically, most of the states that are outlawing abortion still support and use the death penalty. I want every single "pro-lifer" who supports the death penalty, nra, and is against taxation to stop using the term pro-life immediately. They don't give af about life. They only care about infringing upon individual rights and especially the rights of women.

I fucked up something on my learner’s permit and received the death penalty for it.

Every time a verdict is handed down on some horrible killer a bunch of armchair jurors flip out about how he deserved the death penalty. Wait til I tell u that the death penalty should be abolished entirely because the state does not have the right to kill people, ever, no matter who they are. People do not have the right to kill other people and the death penalty grants state officials this right based purely on power. Anyway, ask yourself who benefits from the death penalty. When a person has caused grievous harm there is no way to undo that harm. Their death doesn’t undo it— that is what is so tragic about hurting other people. No amount of suffering they experience will change what they did. The families of the victims will grieve no matter what. If it’s for their benefit, ask yourself: if someone badly harms me or someone I love, does that give me the right to see them die? At what point do I get to decide who lives and who dies?

Unethical Executions in April

Micheal Smith is being executed in Alabama despite having an intellectual disability that would disqualify him from the death penalty in any other state. The only reason he is still being executed is because of a few confusing technicalities in Oklahoma law.

Petitions Here:

Letter Writing Campaigns for oklahoma residents here:

Missouri is slated to execute Brian Dorsey despite his claims of ineffective counsel and the fact that he is picture of remorse and rehabilitation: he turned himself over to the police and pled guilty, has had a flawless prison record, currently resides in the honor ward while working as a prison barber (a highly coveted job only given to trust worthy inmates), and has about 60 prison staff members advocating for the commutation of his sentence.

Petitions Here:

Letter Writing Campaigns and other actions for Missouri Residents here:

https://www.archstl.org/missouri-bishops-others-request-clemency-for-brian-dorsey-first-inmate-to-be-executed-this-year-9478

Tired of people posting suicide bait and being like 'it's ok it's against Bad People <3.' Screw that, screw you, I'm unfollowing.

If you think suicide baiting anyone (including ~those horrible people~) is okay, unfollow me. Unfollow me right now. Some things are just bad, no matter who you're doing them to.

'But they're so evil they deserve to die--' If you really, truly believe that, then go kill them yourself and stop posting 'go kill yourself,' because I can just about guarantee you that your words aren't hitting the people you think they are.

In 2021, my grandfather was murdered. The state calls it manslaughter, but it was murder. Because I live in a death penalty state, I am more happy than not with that definition. I do not want his killers to die by the hand of the state or any hand at all. I have forgiven them.

I am a person with traumatic grief. It may even be classed as post traumatic stress when I go see a psychologist this month. Nevertheless, I am a staunch opposer of the death penalty.

As part of being a Christian, as well as a Quaker, I am called to forgive. Not a day goes by that I don't think about it. Not a day goes by that I don't forgive them all over again. I love them as my fellow man.

I've always been a little thrown off by the way the characters (the team and the passengers) react to Reid trying to talk down Ted, and I've never liked that the episode ends with Ted being shot (although I appreciate that he survives).

I'm not saying this to be critical of the characters: the team doesn't have audio, and the passengers (save for Elle and the incapacitated psychologist) don't have the knowledge to see Reid getting through to him, but:

I don't know. Look at Ted's face. I'm bad at reading expressions, but at the very least, this doesn't seem like the expression of someone unaffected by what's being said to him, or the face of a man who's about to start shooting people. During the conversation, Ted stops aiming the gun at Reid, and yells at Leo to shut up when he tells him to shoot Reid.

I really think that Reid was on his way to talking Ted down, and I wish he'd gotten to do it. I don't think Elle hitting Ted while Reid is talking him down makes a lot of sense*. She's one of the few passengers who can understand that Ted is calming down, and I think she's at the right angle to see his changing expression. I wish Reid had gotten the chance to keep talking, because I do think he was close to ending it without anyone else getting shot.

One other thing I noticed while watching this episode—throughout the episode, Leo has always been onscreen while he speaks, either in the same frame as Ted, or the camera cuts to him while he speaks. However, if you rewatch the scene, notice that whenever Leo speaks during it, not only is he always offscreen, but his voice has an echo to it that wasn't there before. I don't think most of the analysis I post is reflective of the writer's intent, but that seems very intentional to me, symbolizing that Leo is becoming less real to Ted and therefore losing his grip on him.

*this is a criticism of the writing, not the character. yes, elle is impulsive, but the choice to hit ted while he's being talked down and is no longer aiming the gun at anyone seems like a strange and risky choice.

Link to tweet

On January 25, 2024, Alabama executed Kenneth Smith using nitrogen hypoxia, a first in American history. Though state attorneys had assured courts that the method would cause “unconsciousness in seconds,” witnesses reported that Mr. Smith appeared awake for several minutes after the nitrogen gas began. They observed that he “shook and writhed” for at least two minutes before breathing heavily for another few minutes. “This was the fifth execution that I’ve witnessed in Alabama, and I have never seen such a violent reaction to an execution,” said media witness Lee Hedgepeth. Mr. Smith was pronounced dead 32 minutes after the gas began to flow. Mr. Smith would not have been sentenced to death today. His jury voted 11-1 in favor of a life sentence, but the judge overrode the recommendation and imposed a death sentence in a practice now outlawed nationwide. Mr. Smith also survived a botched lethal injection attempt in November 2022 in which Alabama officials strapped him to the gurney for four hours and inserted needles into his muscles. He was one of the few people in history to face execution twice, and experienced severe PTSD symptoms leading up to his second execution date. The Supreme Court denied a stay of execution and certiorari review to Mr. Smith over the dissents of Justices Sotomayor, Kagan, and Jackson. “Having failed to kill Smith on its first attempt, Alabama has selected him as its ‘guinea pig’ to test a method of execution never attempted before,” wrote Justice Sotomayor. Justice Kagan, joined by Justice Jackson, emphasized the risk of Mr. Smith choking on his own vomit as he was deprived of oxygen. Prison officials did not allow Mr. Smith to eat in the ten hours before the execution or drink in the four hours before. Medical experts had also raised the risk of nitrogen hypoxia putting a prisoner into a vegetative state or harming staff and advisors in the execution chamber if the gas leaked. “With deep sadness, but commitment to the Eighth Amendment’s protection against cruel and unusual punishment, I respectfully dissent,” Justice Sotomayor wrote. “The world is watching.” “Tonight Alabama causes humanity to take a step backwards,” Mr. Smith said in his last words. “I’m leaving with love, peace, and light.” He signed “I love you” to his family after the gas mask was put on.

UNETHICAL EXECUTION IN GEORGIA: MARCH 20TH

Willie James Pie is set to be executed in Georgia on March 20th despite that fact that he is intellectually disabled, making this execution unconstitutional.

Links to Take Action:

links specifically for Georgia residents:

KRALIÇE | 1. BÖLÜM

Tw euthanasia, self harm, suicide. Skip if you are uncomfortable or in a bad mental place

(Post below the cut)

So Im transimmortal and want to transition to being immortal at some point. As a transhumanist I believe nonconsensual death should be abolished. That being said I also believe that people should have total choice over their own bodies and recognize the importance of medically assisted suicide for terminally ill patients. I believe as a society we should do everything in our power to reduce harm towards people with suicidal thoughts. I am an antideathist believe transhumanism could create conditions that would reduce suffering and reverse illness and make an immortal life enjoyable and tolerable, reducing the amount of desire for death overall. Being transhumanist means letting people choose to opt in to treatment, but it also means letting people opt out and refuse treatment at any time. Total bodily autonomy includes the right to self harm and there are ways of reducing suicidal mentality through self harming. I don't think euthanasia should be done impulsively but it might need to be done as a last resort for people.

If Alastor had been caught, he would have gotten the death penalty. first degree murder and multiple victims. he'd also be judged on the cruelty, the manner in which each victim was slain. And he'd have no remorse.

just saying you can't accuse something of being "about us, without us" when the victims' families were literally the ones pushing for this outcome

that was us, just because we have different opinions than them on what justice is, doesn't mean it was the sole choice of non-jews and you'd know that if you actually followed this instead of posting your hot-take based off the title of an article that popped up on your phone